


The Internship

by Wonderlandleighleigh



Series: Boarding School Buddies [19]
Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2013-08-11
Packaged: 2017-12-23 03:35:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/921523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wonderlandleighleigh/pseuds/Wonderlandleighleigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephanie Brown isn't really sure why Bruce insisted on sending her to New York to "intern" for Tony Stark. She suspects that he's still sore about the slap in the face she gave him, but she could be wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Internship

It's pouring rain by the time she gets to the front doors of Stark Tower, and she's Stephanie Brown so she forget her umbrella and didn't have time to stop off and get one.

The tower itself is ridiculous; enormous, and she suddenly feels nervous for the first time because what if Stark is just like Bruce? 

Steph shivers and she's not sure if it's from the rain or that thought, but she opens up the doors and steps in. She's dribbling rainwater all over the front entrance but oddly, she feels like she's drying off quickly in the dry, indoor air.

The main lobby of Stark Tower is gorgeous. State-of-the-art and brightly lit and pretty friendly, all things considered. There's a front desk that she steps up to and smiles politely at the security guard sitting there.

"Uh...hi. I'm Stephanie Brown. I think Mister Stark is expecting me?" 

"He is," a woman's voice says from her right, and she turns to find a thin, friendly-looking redhead in her forties, wearing a cream-colored pants suit and black heels. "I'm Pepper Potts. It's nice to meet you, Stephanie." 

They shake hands and it's all very professional (and kinda nerve-wracking), and Steph smiles politely. "Hi." 

She's led to an elevator and they head up up up into the sky while Pepper fills her in. 

"It's a thankless job," she says. "It really is. He's an enormous pain, and he needs a wrangler, and since I'm running Stark Industries, I can't always be around to do it." 

Steph takes all this in and wonders why. Why did Bruce put her up for this? Did he want her out of Gotham so, so very badly? Was this more retribution for slapping him in the face?

"He also needs someone who can protect him," Pepper goes on. "Now that the arc reactor has been removed and he doesn't wear the Iron Man suit anymore...for now...he needs someone capable of being a bodyguard." 

Steph blinks and looks at Pepper, raising an eyebrow. 

"We thought maybe Jason might be a good fit," Pepper says as she types a key code into the control panel in the elevator. "But Bruce was insistent that you were the right girl for the job." 

"To be honest, I don't think Jason's the right girl for any job," Steph says without thinking, and then cringes. 

_Nice, Steph. Be a smartass. That'll impress._

The elevator starts to go down, and Pepper laughs a little, letting Steph breathe a silent sigh of relief. 

"Oh, I think you and Mr. Stark will get along just fine." 

The elevator opens up onto a fully-stocked lab that even Bruce would be jealous of. 

"Whoa." 

"Yeah, Tony likes his toys," Pepper grins. She steps into the lab and what Steph assumed was a glorified cup holder moves quickly out of her way. "Thanks, Dummy." 

Steph frowns as she follows, the brief, paranoid thought that Pepper was speaking to her passing through her mind. 

"That's Dummy," Pepper says, as if she knew. "One of Tony's robot buddies." 

"He's not my buddy!" a disembodied voice cries. "We're not on speaking terms he's useless!" 

Dummy lowers its arm/head/thing in shame.

Pepper looks around, obviously confused. "Where are you?" 

"Where aren't I?" 

"Funny," Pepper huffs. "Tony, it's three o'clock."

"Is it?" 

Pepper nods. "Yes." 

Tony Stark pops out from behind a large, metal...something, that Steph cannot even begin to identify. He's pretty much just as handsome as television and newspapers make him out to be. 

"I thought it was two," he says, wiping his hands off on his jeans. 

"No," Pepper tells him and walks over to peck him on the lips. "It's three. Come meet your new wrangler." 

"Wrangler," Tony repeats, as he follows her. "I'm cattle." 

"You're impossible," Pepper corrects him. "Tony Stark, this is Stephanie Brown. Stephanie, this is Tony." 

Steph grins and waves. "Hi, Mr. Stark." 

Tony looks her up and down, staying quiet. He turns and looks at Pepper and then back at Steph and nods. 

"She's really young," Tony says. 

"I'm twenty," Steph tells them.

"That's young," Tony says. "Why didn't we get Dick?" 

"He loves you too much," Pepper tells him. "Dick would have let you get away with anything."

"Why did Bruce say no to Jason?" 

"Not the right girl for the job," Steph blurts out, and then squeezes her eyes shut. Dammit.

Tony stares at her, she can feel it even with her eyes closed. 

_Crap crap crap crap crap crap cra-_

"Okay, I like her," Tony nods. "And if Bruce thinks she's capable, who the hell argues with Batman? We can keep her." 

Steph's eye fly open. 

Pepper grins, pleased and walks over to Steph. "I'll give you the tour."


End file.
